Some nice work there guys. Dan, its any wonder you have any time for anything else, what with this and the StuG.

I got a brief message from eagle last week. He very much appreciates your kind words, thought and prey's. Thank you.

She's coming along very nicely- good to see lots of Shermans around here!

well, it's been a while, but I finally got some decent painting weather when I'm not working or busy doing other stuff, so I got some painting done and started in on the running gear.

Thanks Silentbob33.

Thanks Gamera:  I didn't do it with my Sherman but with my Stug III, I mixed some XF56 with Flat black. That has darken the color.

RBaer: Nice work on your base.

This morning I airbrushed the first of two Future gloss coats.  The future will seal in that flat black on the tracks,  so no more flacking.  Photo was taken just before I airbrushed.

Bish, thanks for passing along the info on Eagle. I can't even begin to imagine what he must be going through. Our prayers are with him.

Not forgotten, just delayed, I finally started on the base for the almost-Super:

It's the "Tarmacadam" base from Squadron, mounted on some 5/8" plywood. I had a LOT of warpage to deal with, but I still like the effect.

Dan: She's coming along nicely! I usually have the same issue with paint flaking off rubber tracks as you fit them. Not sure there's any other solution other than just painting back over the flaked spots- since they won't be flexed anymore after they're in place I haven't had any real problems with them after that.

As to tools a guy told me years ago to paint them either black or a very dark grey and then rub some pencil graphite (lead) on your finger and then rub it on the tools. Not sure if that really helps now that you already cemented them on though.

BTW: The four GIs I've been working on for the small dio I'm doing are close to done. I was going to take some photos Wednesday night but they were close enough to done I figured I'd wait.  

Thanks guys!  I'm pretty pleased so far.  Dan, I really like how your Sherman is looking

Thanks for the information Jgeratic.  I used Tamiya XF-56 Metallic Grey, could try a dark metal color.  For the tool's I used MM Wood and Tamiya Buff, the buff seems to have a more lighter weathered look to it,  MM Wood gives a more newer color.

Dan - Sherman looking really good there.  

IMO, not sure dull cote will help  the tools - it will possibly make them look more like aluminum as it appears you have used a medium metal paint on them?  Worn areas on the tools, where they have experienced abrasion from use - it's fine to have brighter detail there, but overall should be dark metal.  I'd suggest a wash of several layers, or a single heavy wash, composed of dark grey/brown.

Note too, that regulation issue would have equipment finished in either OD or black paint, but this was not always possible during war time.  Have also read the sections of wood were left natural, as paint tended to dry them out, resulting handles snapping during use.

The tow cable also might need that wash - I'm not sure, but were they issued with galvanized metal cables back then?

regards,

Jack

Yeah she looks to be coming along great Bob.

I think I'm getting closer to airbrushing Future on my M4, dry fitted the tracks on and as you can see some of the flat black has pealed off.  Hopefully I can get the road wheels finished today with painting, not sure what do use to tone done that shine on the tools.  Maybe the dullcote will do that?

She looks good to me Bob!

Eagle, I'm very sorry to hear of your loss, my thoughts and prayers are with you and your children.

I shot the OD before Easter, but I didn't get a chance to post pictures until now.  The preshading is very subtle, and you can see it much better in brighter light, so I took some pictures with my flash turned on.  Unfortunately I don't have a good area (or the skills) to take good photos.  I also did the detail painting on the radio unit and corrected the color of the insides of the hatches.

I'm sorry to hear about your loss Eagle, losing a loved one is never easy.

Gee friggin' whiz! Eagle, if you get around to checking the site when you get a spare moment my thoughts and prayers are with you. I wish there were something I could do to help out.

And thanks Bish, I've been poking along on this but with about a month left to go I've restarted work on the small dio and the figures. Hopefully I'll hit the cut-off date.

As I am sure many of you know, this GB is being run by Eagle in conjunction with the defence of the Reich GB being run by myself. Many of you may have noticed that Eagle has been absent for a while. His wife has been dealing with a very serious health issue since he joined the site, and in the last few months things took a turn for the worse. Last Wednesday she lost her battle and passed away. Eagle is left to care for 2 young children, the youngest only 3.

I am sure you would all join me in sending your deepest sympathies to Eagle and his family, and for the religious amongst you, I am sure your prayer's will be most welcome.

As for as the GB goes, you guys seem to be doing pretty well. I know eagle would like you to finish off your builds and not let the GB just fade. Obviously I can't alter the roster or edit his post with the completed build pics. My first post is on page 3, so for now I will use that to post pics of the completed builds, i can't see anyone new joining now. I will try and keep up, but please bare with me.

Thank you all for your understanding.

Thanks Gamera, think I'll be toning that down with weathering.

Dan the olive drab really looks good! Personally I'd go with a little darker on the tools but I'm just nitpicking though

Thanks Gamera: I've heard very good things about the Tasca kits.

Raven728: Great work on your Hellcat.  Guess you can't pose the main gun
in different elevations, the kits mantle cover prevents that.

Silentbob33: Nice pre-shading, like the dark red of that rotbraun.

I decided to go over the main haul and turret again with MM Olive Drab, then with Tamiya's darker Olive Drab.  Then I did some what of a dry brush technique on repainting the tool's, you would get the brush a little wetter than the dry brush technique and slowly but carefully repaint the tools.  Used a note card under the tow cable in places where there was a gap between the hull.  Then retouched the road wheels, will be retouching the edges soon.  And with extra thin Tamiya Olive Drab went around the over painted area's, then dabbed the brush around the tank, then rubbed those spots with Isoproply Alcohol to give a weather beat'en look.  Think I'll go back in those spot's with some rust.

Don't think I'll be starting my Tamiya M4A3E8 any time soon, there's roughly a 900 part count.  I'll wait till all my current projects are done.

Thanks Gamera! I sprayed the OD yesterday and will get some pics posted after the holiday. The preshading effect is very subtle, and you can really see it well under bright light. I might have gone a bit too heavy on the OD, but I still like the effect. Just a subtle start to the weathering process 

I like your pre-shading there Bob, this is going to look cool!

Steve, I think from looking at the picture that it is the floor of the crew compartment we're looking at.  However, I'm no expert at all when it comes to AFVs.  I like the look of the open floor turret so I'm sticking with it.  I also decided to go with the mantlet cover, for some reason I just can't make myself deviate that much from the photo I found.  

I was able to get a bit of time at the bench the last couple of days and finished up most of the sub-assemblies.  I left most of the turret unassembled mostly because I don't trust my ability to get inside of there with a brush for detail painting after I shoot it with OD.  I preshaded panel lines and the engine screen with black, and then added some rotbraun to it to preshade the rest of the Hellcat so that when I spray the OD it is broken up a bit.  This is something I tried on an LCVP for the Longest Day Group Build and I liked the results so I figured I'd try it again here.  I used the same mixture of black and rotbraun for the base color of the tracks.

silentbob33

I just watched the Tank Overhaul episode and of course, they didn't show the interior of the turret.  Oh well, still an awesome story about reuniting a Hellcat with its commander.

I didn't think they did, but I was hoping I was wrong. Here's the pic I found. I suppose the floor panels could have been hinged.

I just watched the Tank Overhaul episode and of course, they didn't show the interior of the turret.  Oh well, still an awesome story about reuniting a Hellcat with its commander.

Steve: Really looking like a Hellcat now!

Wish I could help with the turret guys. I have done some work on the AFV Club kit and it has the open bottom to the turret basket too. Funny, I've found lots of photos of the interior of M10 turrets but the M18 I can't find much at all.

Thanks for the head's up Steve.  After reading your post I dry fit the mantlet cover to the part of the turret I have and I think you're right about the gun pointing too low.  Even though the picture I found of the vehicle I'm doing has the cover on it, I think I'll omit it using artistic license.  I remember seeing an episode of Tank Overhaul where they restored a Hellcat and it had the open-floored turret.  I tried looking for more pictures of the inside of the turret, but I wasn't too successful. I just found the episode on YouTube, and I'll watch it later just to make sure.

Here she is with turret painted and installed. Two more things to note, Bob: one, if you're using the mantlet cover as I have, be aware that once it's on and the glue dries, you're done. You can't elevate the gun tube at all, because it fits in so exactly, and the cover attaches directly to the front of the turret. I found that not only did my gun breach not fit quite right (it's ok though), but my cannon is depressed a tiny bit more than I would have liked, but there's no going back now. Two, if you follow the turret construction by the instructions, it's open at the bottom; i.e. you can see into the crew compartment below. I'm not sure if this is right or not, but the photos I've seen have a solid floor which actually matches the kit part that isn't used (H10). In hindsight I would have tried to use the solid floor one, but c'est la guerre.

Thanks Raven. I have next week off from work so I'm hoping to get the rest of the assembly done and start painting. I was hoping to be done by now, but work has a way of taking up too much time. Not to mention I forgot how much time a baby can take up too...but that's a good reason to lose bench time.  I can't wait to see how your tracks come out.

Looks good so far, Bob. I just finished painting my turret assembly. The photo of a restored 'Cat I saw online had the whole thing OD inside, so that's how I did it. On to the tracks next; I actually painted mine first, on the sprue, so we'll see how that turns out.

Thanks for the info Gamera.  I still have a bit of assembly to do before I can start painting it up.

Congrats there on a great buy Dan, I'm working on the same kit in the Asuka/Tasca box and it's a fantastic kit.

Bob: I've seen the bottom plate on M10s painted olive drab so I assume it would be the same on a M18 unless someone has different information.